2013-10-03 Hubert Stephenson was the co-pilot of the B-17 which was forced to crash land on July 4, 1943 in France. We participated in this summer's ceremony to honor the crew and to place a monument in the local area in their honor. A ceremony was held on Noirmoutier island, France,…
2013-10-03 by Robbin Laird The PRC leadership clearly has growing global aspirations. It is also a leadership living on top of a caldron of economic and ethnic dynamics. The two can actually go together, in terms of global play and reach being a means of containing domestic pressures. Obviously, the…
2013-09-29 By Commodore (Retd) Ranjit B Rai The Indian Navy has operated eight Foxtrot, ten Kilo, four HDW-1500, and two nuclear submarines, a Charlie (1988-91) and an Akula (from April 2013) both named INS Chakra on lease, for five decades, and has fired hundreds of torpedoes and dozens of missiles…
2013-10-01 By Robbin Laird Recently, we published a comprehensive report by Richard Weitz on Azerbaijan. Weitz argued that: The Republic of Azerbaijan is a close U.S. ally since Azerbaijanis regained their independence following the Soviet Union’s collapse. It has become a prominent role model for Muslim-majority nations seeking to manage…
2013-09-30 A key characteristic of core 21st century multi-mission systems is often their multi-national manufacturing character. This is centrally true for the new A400M, which has just been delivered to the French Air Force. [caption id="attachment_57693" align="alignnone" width="300"] Welcoming the A400M to the French Air Force, September 30, 2013. Credit: Airbus…
2013-09-30 By Guy Martin The US military has stopped flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from its main African base in Djibouti after a string of crashes, moving operations to a remote desert airstrip. Camp Lemonnier, next to Djibouti’s international airport, is the only official American military base on the African continent…
2013-09-30 by Chloé-Alexandra Laird I had the honor in June of this year to ask a couple of questions to Michel Adrien, a witness to the B17 crash in the town of Noirmoutier, France on July 4th, 1943. Q: How old were you when you witnessed this American plane crash…
2013-09-29 During the visit of Secretary Wynne to the 33rd Fighter Wing, we accompanied him on the visit and add some meetings of our own. Among the most notable of those additional meetings was an opportunity to sit down with two USMC leaders in the process of the roll out of…
